JESSICA ENNIS allayed any fears about her current well-being with a pair of promising performances at the Great City Games in Manchester and the world heptathlon champion seems to be in the form to make a good defence of her heptathlon title in the adopted home of multi-events in Gotzis, Austria.
The 25-year-old was gearing her winter preparations with the European Indoor Championships in mind but an ankle injury forced the City of Sheffield athlete onto the sidelines for seven weeks and even though Ennis was forced to miss a long stint of training, she looked sharp in her season's opener in Manchester with 12.88 in the 100m hurdles, which was her fifth fastest performance ever.
Unbeaten in multi-event competitions since she was forced to withdraw from this meeting in 2008 with a season-ending and career-threatening ankle injury, Ennis also competed at the Loughborough International last weekend where, in windy conditions, she won the high jump with 1.86m and recorded 44.49m in the javelin.
After the competition, Ennis said: “The weather was difficult, but today has given me a lot of confidence. My jumping is there and my speed is there.”
Here's a look at her main rivals over the two-day competition.
Tatyana Chernova (Russia)
IF you add up Chernova's PBs and convert them using the scoring tables, her score would surpass that of Ennis' best but for all of her talent, the Russian isn't the most reliable or dependable performer. On paper, Chernova is a supreme second-day performer with a 6.78m long jump, 54.49m javelin and a 2:06.50 800m but the former world junior champion struggles to string together these lofty marks in a multi-events competition. However, Chernova is a former winner in Gotzis and she was the runner-up to Ennis last year.
Nataliya Dobrynska (Ukraine)
THE Olympic champion hasn't competed in 2011 but the Ukrainian will be a great threat, having finished runner-up to Ennis at last year's World Indoor Championships in Doha and the European Championships in Barcelona where she set PBs on both occasions. Dobrynska, who was a mere seventh last year, might be more of a big-time competitor but she's stellar in the throws and the 28-year-old is also a superior long jumper with a 6.63m PB.
Jennifer Oeser (Germany)
THE Germans have a rich multi-event tradition and Oeser is their current No.1, having collected medals at the two most recent major championships. At her best, Oeser is another athlete who always comes late as she's a 6.68m long jumper, not to mention a 49m javelin thrower as well as a very solid two lap runner.
Austra Skujyte (Lithuania)
SKUJYTE took a two-year hiatus from the multi-events after the Beijing Olympic Games in order to focus on the shot put but the 31-year-old from Lithuania made a promising return to the combined events at the European Indoor Championships, where she took silver in the pentathlon with 4706, which was a mere 34 points shy of her national record. Skujyte is a mammoth shot putter but expect her other events to progress as she continues to slim down.
The rest of the field
WORLD-LEADER Margaret Simpson from Ghana scored her best mark in four years with 6270 last month and the former world bronze medallist is the sole African in the field.
European indoor champion Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida from France looks set to improve her lifetime best of 6323 while Paris bronze medallist Remona Fransen should break the 6000-point barrier for the first time.
Olympic fifth placer Jessica Zelinka from Canada continues her return from maternity leave.
My verdict
ENNIS'S build-up hasn't been perfect and but even so, the European and world champion starts as the logical favourite. In heptathlon competitions, Ennis is 4-1 over Chernova and 4-2 over Dobrynska and Oeser, which includes her DNF in 2008.
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